ARTICLES ABOUT GENERAL COUNSEL BY DATE - PAGE 2

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Justice's talks with Microsoft Corp and Google Inc have hit a wall as the government pushes back at the tech companies' demand for the ability to disclose the now-secret data requests they receive. Microsoft's general counsel, Brad Smith, on Friday described as a failure the outcome of the companies' recent negotiations with the government over the disclosure of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court orders the companies receive.

Former NBCUniversal exec Jeffrey Schneider has been tapped exec VP of business and legal affairs and general counsel at Shine America. He will report to Rich Ross, CEO of the production company. Schneider joins Shine after overseeing biz affairs for NBCUniversal since July 2011, handling the company's flock of nets including Bravo, Oxygen, Style, Sprout and Telemundo, along with NBCU digital assets such as Fandango and Daily Candy. Prior to his stint at the NBCU family, Schneider served as senior veep of business affairs and deputy general counsel for Lifetime, plus logged years at Fox TV Studios, MTV and Paramount Pictures Corp.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The counsel for the Office of Director of National Intelligence, which oversees U.S. intelligence agencies, said on Tuesday that more opinions of a secret court that issues warrants for surveillance cases would likely be declassified. Lawmakers at a House of Representatives Intelligence Committee hearing on top-secret National Security Agency spying programs that have been made public pressed for the declassification of more Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court opinions.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama is expected to nominate former Justice Department official James Comey as his next head of the FBI, a source said on Wednesday. If confirmed by the Senate, Comey, a Republican, would replace FBI Director Robert Mueller, who has led the agency since just before the September 11, 2001, attacks. Mueller is expected to step down this fall. The White House would not comment on Obama's decision but the source said Obama had been leaning toward Comey in recent days.

Maria Green let silence fall over a weekly meeting before weighing in on the question of how Illinois Tool Works should supply information to board members inquiring about vote tallies at annual meetings. The pause prompted staff members to share additional ideas, such as uploading election results to a secured website. Green leaned back, folded a forearm across her torso and let her chin rest on the opposite hand as she considered the suggestion. A second later, she approved it. "You talked me into it," said Green, general counsel at ITW, a $17.9 billion conglomerate based in Glenview that makes construction materials, welding equipment and automotive parts.

Feb 28 (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc's U.S. Chief Administrative Officer Tom Mars will step down in March after more than a decade with the company, in which he also served as general counsel, the Wall Street Journal reported. A Wal-Mart spokesman declined to provide a reason for his departure and Mars could not immediately be reached for comment, the paper said. He will leave the company on March 13, it added. As the retailer's general counsel from 2002 to 2009, Mars was involved in an investigation into bribery allegations regarding a Wal-Mart store built near the Mexican pyramids, according to company e-mails released earlier this year by members of Congress, the Journal said.

WASHINGTON, Feb 24 (Reuters) - A Senate panel will vote this week on the nomination of Jack Lew to be U.S. treasury secretary, the committee said on Sunday. The Senate Finance Committee will meet on Tuesday to vote on Lew, President Barack Obama's pick to replace Timothy Geithner at Treasury, said the panel's chairman, Max Baucus. At a hearing earlier this month Lew defused heated questions from lawmakers about his work at Citigroup, paving the way for his expected confirmation by the full Senate.